Lake Erie 'essentially' frozen over

Lake-effect snow storms have helped make Erie the snowiest city in the country so far this winter, but the now ice-covered Lake Erie might not be creating as much snow during the rest of the season.

The lake was about 95 percent covered by ice as of Thursday, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

NOAA physical scientist George Leshkevich described the lake as "essentially" frozen over, which means it is covered enough to slow lake waters from evaporating and creating lake-effect snow and cloud cover.

Brian Mitchell, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Cleveland, warns the lake effect isn't entirely gone.

"It cuts down the lake-effect snow amounts quite significantly," Mitchell said. "But some moisture can still be pulled up to dump snows on some isolated areas."

Mitchell said those snows won't last as long as some storms earlier in the season, and an ice-covered lake does increase the chance of clear skies.

Leshkevich said ice is likely thicker this year than in 2013, when only 80 percent of the lake was covered at its peak, and much of that ice was only an inch thick. He said at least one spot on the lake now has ice as thick as 4 feet because winds forced the ice to pile onto itself.

Especially cold temperatures and arctic winds have helped make the Great Lakes particularly icy this year. Leshkevich said ice coverage doesn't usually peak until February, but the lakes are already the iciest they have been since early 2009.

As of Wednesday, the lakes were about 59 percent covered in ice. Leshkevich said early forecasts called for between 57 and 62 percent to be covered this winter, but he said it now looks like the lakes could see even more ice cover if cold weather persists.

The Great Lakes as a whole were only about 38 percent covered at their iciest point of 2013.

SEAN McCRACKEN can be reached at 870-1714 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNmccracken.